Weekly Announcements  

Sunday, May 12
9:45 a.m.       Early Gathering for MFW, in Meetinghouse & on Zoom
10:00 a.m.     Meeting for Worship, in Meetinghouse & on Zoom
11:00 a.m.     Mother's Day Public Witness for Peace, outdoors (see below)
7:00 p.m.       Sundays at Seven, in John Barnes Room
Monday, May 13
7:00 p.m.       Meeting for Worship to Attend to Business, in Meetinghouse & on Zoom

Construction to Begin Soon!
The start date for construction work on our Accessibility Safety and Inclusion (ASI) project has been delayed due to a lengthy process of acquiring approval from Abington Township. We hope to have a definite start date soon, and we expect work to continue through the summer. 
During construction, we anticipate that many of our usual activities will have to be rescheduled or relocated. We do expect to have Meeting for Worship in the meetinghouse every Sunday, but Friends will have to enter through the porch doors rather than the main entrance, and it's possible that the lavatories may not be accessible, so Friends would have to use the Short Stable lavatory. Please continue to watch our announcements and website for updates about other activities and events. 
We also hope that Friends will consider donating to this project to support this important work. If you are donating to the Accessibility Safety & Inclusion project, please be sure to designate that the donation is intended for ASI.
Here's some additional background information:

IMPORTANT SCHEDULING UPDATES:

• Child Care is now in the Short Stable, because supplies have already been moved there, anticipating construction. 
• Coffee Breaks during construction must be simple ones, because the kitchen is all packed up. Friends are invited to sign up to host, but please be aware that the kitchen may be off-limits at certain times, so refreshments should be as simple as possible (such as cookies and cold drinks). Sign Up Here to Host a Simple Coffee Break
• Due to the construction schedule this year, our Outdoor Meetings for Worship will begin on June 2.
• Please continue to watch for updates!

Mother's Day Public Witness for Peace
Friends will gather informally at the rise of meeting for worship on Sunday, May 12th to offer a public witness for Peace. All are welcome! Please gather on the sidewalks near the Triangle Building, at the corner of Meetinghouse Road and Jenkintown Avenue. Bring your own signs encouraging Peace in our world.  We will be a Quaker presence, offering public witness to our testimonies of Peace, Equality, Integrity and Community.

Sundays at Seven


Attention families celebrating Graduations this year: 
If you or a family member will be graduating from high school, college or graduate school this year, please let us know!  We would like to congratulate our Graduates in our June Newsletter.  Please provide the graduate’s full name, school from which they are graduating, and the diploma or degree they will receive. Please email the information to abingtonmeeting@abingtonfriends.net no later than May 14th!

New Directory Soon!
If you have a new mailing address, email address or phone number, or if you are a newer Attender and would like to be included in our upcoming Directory, please email your contact information to Loretta at AbingtonMeeting@abingtonfriends.net no later than Monday, May 14th. If you’d like a photo to be included on your listing, please send that as well.

Abington Meeting's Annual LGBTQIA+ Pride Celebration


FGC's 'The Gathering' Comes to Philadelphia 
This summer, Friends General Conference will host 'The Gathering', an annual week of Quaker worship, workshops and community for all ages. Set against the backdrop of Haverford College, this is the first time since Friends General Conference began in 1900 that it is being held in the immediate Philadelphia area! This is your invitation to be part of “a great people to be gathered”, June 30-July 6, 2024!  Click Here for More Information

Registration is OPEN for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) Annual Sessions 2024!
Saturday, July 6th to Sunday, July 7th 
This year, Annual Sessions will bookend the FGC Gathering (June 30-July 6 at Haverford College). We start on June 29th with a celebration event at Arch Street Meetinghouse, recognizing George Fox’s 400th birthday! After the FGC Gathering, PYM Friends will convene at Haverford College from Saturday, July 6 – Sunday, July 7.  Join us for fellowship, fun, learning and tending to the business of the yearly meeting! Click Here to Register

News of Friends for Monthly Newsletter
The News of Friends section in our monthly Newsletter is the place to share news of joy or good things happening in your life. If you have a joy to share, please email a sentence or two to Loretta Fox at
 AMM@abingtonfriends.net, and please copy our Care of Members Committee at 
CareOfMembersAFM@gmail.com. 

Coffee Break Hosts Needed
Friends are encouraged to sign up to host a coffee break following our meeting for worship. Committees, families or individuals are welcome to sign up to host. If you'd like to work with someone else, feel free to find a Friend and sign up together. Click here for our Coffee Break Sign Up Sheet. 

Please Consider Committee Work
Our Nominating Committee is currently working on nominations to fill the open slots on many committees. Please contact any member of our Nominating Committee if you have interest in particular committees or if you'd like to discuss ways to get involved. Committee work is open to all members and attenders, and we all share the responsibility of keeping our beloved Meeting running smoothly. Our Nominating Committee is: Carl Hemenway (clerk), Bonnie Schorsch, Mat Clark, Joanne Maule-Schmidt and Loretta Fox. 

Sunday Greeters
Please consider signing up to be a greeter before Meeting for Worship!  This is a fun and welcoming way to get to know our community.  The sign up sheet is on the bulletin board near the meetinghouse main entrance doors. 

Some Friendly Reminders...

• Our First Aid Kit for the meetinghouse is kept on the kitchen counter in full view for easy access. It is important that it is replaced there if moved.
• Food and beverages are not permitted in the meetinghouse. Please enjoy your refreshments in the John Barnes Room or on the porch.
• If you are meeting after First Day Worship or any other time when Cath/Mike/Bob are not immediately available, please remember to lock both Short Stables doors and/or the meetinghouse (whichever you have used) when you leave.  All clerks with codes should also remember to set the alarm after using the meetinghouse. Otherwise, the buildings may be open for a substantial period of time before Mike or Bob or Cathy return to the property. Thank you for your ongoing cooperation.
• Any use of space indoors or outdoors needs to be scheduled through Cathy in the Meeting office. MeetingOffice@abingtonfriends.net
• When you are present at the meetinghouse, please remember to wear your nametag. If you need a nametag, please sign up on the list just below the nametag shelf in the John Barnes Room.
• When you visit our meetinghouse property on Sundays or for special events at other times, please do not park on the grass. Thank you!
• Please remember that our meetinghouse driveway is One Way. We have had some near-misses recently with cars exiting the property the wrong way. Please remember to enter by Greenwood Avenue, and exit only onto Meetinghouse Road. One Way signs are posted along the driveway.
• Many of us consider our meetinghouse to be a second home, so as a friendly reminder, please treat the Meeting property as though it really is your home:  Pick up trash, wash and dry your dishes, turn off the lights, and lock doors on your way out. Please remember that we do not have a Caretaker to clean up, so we all share this responsibility. Thank you, Friends!
• Please rinse all items before putting them in the recycling bin. Please remember that ALL items with recycling codes (such as plastic cups) go in the recycling bins - there has been some tendency to put some recyclables in the trash, and then the trash has to be sorted.
• The sections of the meetinghouse closest to the East Wing have been designated as an area to be used ONLY for Friends who choose to wear masks. We ask that Friends who wish to be unmasked kindly sit elsewhere in the meetinghouse. Friends wearing masks are still welcome to sit anywhere, but we acknowledge that some Friends prefer to sit only near others with masks on. Please maintain safe distancing, because comfort levels vary among Friends, and some Friends are higher risk.

As Friends, we are called to be ministers to one another...  
If you are struggling, or if you have a concern about one of our members or attenders, please let anyone on the Care of Members Committee know, or contact Deborra Sines Pancoe, clerk.

Your Help is Needed
If you believe in the good work that we do at our beloved Abington Friends Meeting, please give regularly so that we can continue our work within our community and the wider world. This is a friendly reminder that donations of any amount are needed to continue this work. Please click on the How to Donate tab for specific ways to donate, including credit card, ACH and Venmo. Checks should be payable to Abington Monthly Meeting. Thank you for your generosity!